Warhammer Quest: Death Below Karak Azgal

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
When we last left our heroes, they arrived in the town of Sebmualblal to deliver a book to Corticruss. Thanks to some unexpected delays with a vicious minotaur, fierce ogres, some pesky undead, and a very rude vampire, by the time they arrived, Corticruss was gone. After a long and boring journey, they have followed Corticruss to Karak Azgal. As they approach the gates to the fort, a dwarven soldier approaches them...

"Hey, you four are the ones Ironbeard Grunnson was looking for, aren't you? He'll be glad to see you. I'll take you to him now..."
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
The soldier leads you around a courtyard to what appears to be a large wing of the fort, then into a vast hall bustling with more dwarven soldiers. After taking a look around, the soldier escorting you turns into an area off to the side of the main hall that seems to contain several small rooms. This area seems to be serving as some sort of workshop and warehouse, with various goods being added to and removed from boxes and boxes being moved from place to place. Before your guide can continue, he is intercepted by Corticruss...

"There you are! I knew you'd make it here eventually. I was hoping to wait until you arrived in Sebmu, figuring that it would be a pretty boring job hiking to the tomb and retrieving the book and that you'd be back in no time, but apparently you were delayed. It's probably all for the best, though. You see, this acquaintance of mine, Ironbeard Grunnson, has an errand for you that is certainly more precarious-sounding than mine, but succeeding comes with a substantial reward, of course. There's no hurry on that matter, though, as the Skalf clan is busy recruiting all the local fighters they can for some other purpose on the other side of this fort. Probably part of some war against orcs or goblins or whatever.

So feel free to visit the traders in this hall before you speak to Ironbeard. That way you'll be better equipped for his little venture, which will undoubtedly involve a much bigger dungeon than the one I sent you to.

But first, the Levos Focus Compendium. I'll use its magic to fortify you. And for good measure, for the rest of your adventuring careers, I'll identify any items you bring to me and offer a reasonable amount of gold if you wish to sell them to me instead of elsewhere. In the future, I'm not sure how useful this offer will be, as you'd likely have to travel to Sebmu to meet up with me.

While I'm doing that, tell me about your journey to the tomb. Find any clues about what happened to crazy old Shalaz? Did you have to fight off giant rats? That's always a fun one. Crazy rodents..."

All four of the Warriors have +1 added permanently to their starting Wounds from the spell Corticruss casts using the book.

On items: Corticruss will never fail to correctly identify an item. I will update/revise the Warrior profiles and PM them to you once they're ready. Any unidentified item I will assume was handed over to Corticruss for identification. Items that have been incorrectly identified or that a Warrior wants to know more about can be handed over as well, just post in this thread which items you want investigated.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Dorgath hands over all of the items that he is carrying and starts to relate the tomb's tale. Specifically..."So Corticuss, have you heard of this Orm guy or a resurgence of Shalaz's cult? Have you heard about spagyrite keys or the Halls of Alteration?"
 

Mooseman

Isengar Tussle
"Whoa there little warrior..... maybe we should start by explaining what took us so long.... like the undead and ghosts that assailed us."
Carrow chuckles as he hands over his all items to be identified.
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
"It's good that you brought me Shalaz's notes, but what you've told me about this cult and the undead running amuck in the north is serious. If Shalaz really has turned himself into some sort of supercharged necromancer, well, things could get nasty. I'd stay away from that area for now if I were you...

And yes, I've heard of Orm. That's how I found out about the Levos Focus Compendium in the first place: I found what appears to be Orm's workshop, containing his old spellbooks, research notes, journals, and such. But it appeared to have been abandoned for quite a while, and as far as I've been able to ascertain, no one has seen Orm in a long time. I assumed that he'd been killed, but from what you've told me, it's possible that he's part of this cult.

I'll send a message to the Empire warning them about the necromancers. And I should also research what exactly Shalaz did when he took the power of those necromancers. Maybe he has some glaring weakness and I can find it..."

Corticruss holds up the orb Dorgath thought was made of some sort of stone.

"This is expended nightmantle shell. The largest quantity I've ever seen. Shalaz must have used it as a magical power source for his transformation. Nightmantle shell is harvested from large clams and has some marvelous magical properties. Unfortunately, now that the power has been drained from the orb, it's worthless except perhaps as an oddity."

Corticruss examines the Spagyric Key.

"I consider myself to be an expert when it comes to magical tomes, but sometimes I come across something that confounds me entirely. I've never seen anything like this. Well, I don't know where it comes from, but check this out..."

Corticruss grabs a page and holds the whole book aloft by the thin sheet, then grabs a dagger in his other hand and drives it into the paper. The dagger breaks.

"Fascinating, isn't it? Indestructable paper. Well, you can leave it with me and I'll see if I can make it reveal more of the text somehow, once I deal with more pressing matters. Or you can bring it with you. I'm surprised Shalaz left such a thing unguarded. His notes indicate that he used it and he must have understood its power better than I do, anyway. Perhaps once he completed his transformation, he was beyond caring about what happened to the items in the tomb. I'll have to investigate his notes further..."
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
When I sent the PM's I forgot to include books that characters are carrying. I have Carrow carrying the Sylvan Epic and Dorgath carrying the Spagyric Key (unless the party chooses to leave it with Corticruss).
 

turgy22

Nothing Special
Throg would like to sell the Hellfire Sword, equip the Sword of Defiance and store the lantern until it's needed.

Also, when and where can we buy stuff? Throg could use some more provisions.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
"Many thanks, Corticruss. I'll leave the Key here with you - it'll do more good in your hands than mine. But believe me, it wasn't unguarded :)

Let's go see Ironbeard, then we can get provisions. Especially if there's some Bugman's Brew available."
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Corticruss: "Because most of the locals are dealing with a war right now, the fort doesn't have the full complement of facilities that you might normally find. But in this hall there are some things that may be of interest: the dwarf guildmasters (only Dorgath can visit), a gambling den, a temple, and then there's the armorer, fletcher (Throg and Kelgar do not use missile weapons), and gunsmith (Throg, Kelgar, and Carrow do not use guns). There's no weaponsmith or general store, but I have enough in stock to function as both of those."
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
"Temple to whom?

Let's visit Ironbeard first and then we can explore the place at our leisure."
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
The temple is a generic temple like many in regions that have diverse travelers passing through all the time, with shrines to many gods and an emphasis on whichever ones the locals happen to prefer.

The Warriors greet Ironbeard Grunnson, a dwarven merchant working with the soldiers in the fort on supplying them for their war...

"My father was Grimcrag Grunnson, son of Ungrun Grunnson the Grimly Glum. After his death in the dungeons below us, I became lord of our clan. He was a great warrior, bold, and some would say foolhardy. He led a party of like-minded heroes into the ruins in search of treasure. Stories are told of their glorious quest in the forgotten halls of the dwarf under-realm. They vanquished hundreds of orcs and their kind in the darkness, killing many minotaurs, dragon ogres, beastmen, and creatures of Chaos as they pressed grimly onwards.

In the bowels of Karak Azgal, they discovered ancient passages not of dwarven origin, possibly delving to the mountain's very roots. My father thought they were what he had been searching for, although what he hoped to find down there, I know not. But it was in those cursed halls that he met his doom, buying time for his companions to escape with their lives. Beset by overwhelming odds, he held out against his foes for many hours, the bodies of the slain building up into a rampart of scaly flesh before him. Wearied and battered, bleeding from a hundred wounds, he fought on, his deathsong echoing through the lonely tunnels beheath the earth. His companions fled, his song following them. Finally it stopped, and they knew that Grimcrag was no more.

When his companions met my grandfather upon their return, they wept as they told the tale. My grandfather grieved loud and long, tearing his beard as he mourned for his son. His loss, however, was increased twofold, for my father carried with him the legendary Grunnson Axe, a magical weapon of great power. The thought of this great dwarven artifact in the hands of the evil creatures that now held sway over Karak Azgal must have been too much for the old man to bear. He put on his battle gear and went out toe reclaim the axe himself. He was never seen or heard from again.

It is my duty to resolve this, but I'm no fighter. Which is why I'm hiring you. Find out what happened to my father and my grandfather. If you can bring back the axe, there will be a special bonus as well. And I know a secret route to the entrance that my father marked with his rune, so we can get around the normal tolls, so you can keep any treasure you find for yourselves."
 

Mooseman

Isengar Tussle
So it's another jaunt underground in the grimy, wet, dark and enclosed spaces......... Oh the things I endure for you folks.
Well, how will we see down there?
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
"Obviously we must right such a wrong done to dwarves! I'm in!"

If Ironbeard is done, Dorgath will visit the Guildmasters to learn any information.
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
PM sent to Spidey for Dorgath's visit to the Dwarven Guildmasters. And I didn't state so in this thread, but I already did the transaction for Throg selling his Hellfire Sword to Corticruss. As for MM's question, Throg does still have a lantern in his inventory, so the party has a light source.
 

Oversoul

The Tentacled One
Dorgath emerges from the Dwarven Guildmasters with his purse significantly lighter, but with lots of dwarven gadgets for maiming his enemies.
 
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